The Salt Lake Tribute hosted an online discussion between a few noble, capable Mormon women to discuss female ordination. There were two historical anecdotes that were referenced in the discussion, and because these two incidents are so unknown among Mormons (and probably among many leaders, even), I wanted to highlight them here. And while there are surely better, more thorough explanations of these cases out there (possibly even prepared by the same women that introduced them in this video), I thought the overall discussion was pretty good, so I’ll just put the words here just as they came out of these women’s mouths.

At 23:27, Julie M. Smith explains:

In the early weeks of the Relief Society, Joseph Smith addressed them and said his intention was to turn the Relief Society into a “kingdom of priests as in Enoch’s day—as in Paul’s day”. And I don’t know that many church members are familiar with that, but it’s on the Church’s website in the Joseph Smith Papers, that that’s indeed what he said.

As a side note, what’s interesting about that is there’s a new revelation there, and the revelation is that women were organized as a kingdom of priests in Enoch’s day and in Paul’s day.

I think it’s important to know that that’s part of our heritage as Latter-day Saints, and that’s part of the work that Joseph Smith restored.

At the same time, he restored that as part of the Relief Society. It wasn’t done mixed with the men. It wasn’t a unisex priesthood. The women were being separately organized. So I think we have both aspects there, in those words of Joseph Smith.

And I also need to add, it’s a brief statement, recorded in notes. Of course, we wish we had a longer, drawn out statement—a clear explanation of what precisely he intended. But that’s the bare bones that we do have.

Then Kate Kelly:

I’d just like to point out also in the minutes that there were ordinations of the early leaders in the Relief Society, and the word “ordination” was specifically used. And Emma Smith, it was said in the minutes, did not need to be ordained. She simply needed to be set apart because she had been previously ordained. So there was a distinction between setting them apart and ordaining them in those minutes.

And I agree with Julie that I wish we had a lot more about what was said in that time, and I wish they had done a Google chat where we could ask them questions.

Later, at 28:00, Julie M. Smith adds:

While I’m not an Ordain Woman supporter, there is a very interesting scriptural precedent here. The only time that we have a record of the Law of Moses being changed is a time when a group of women approached Moses and said, essentially, “We don’t think the inheritance laws are fair, because they disenfranchise women.” Moses prayed about it, and the answer he received was, “Change the law and let them inherit.” (see Numbers 27 1-11)

So that is a very interesting precedent in this discussion. Where I think it gets a little murky is, we can’t walk up to President Monson’s tent and ask him to go pray about it, right? So then the question becomes, “What is the method by which a righteous woman with a complaint about the law gets the prophet’s ear?” And I think that’s where you find disagreement among Mormon feminists today.